Foodhttps://jwa.org/topics/food
enI’m Vegan, But That Shouldn’t Stop You From Reading Thishttps://jwa.org/blog/risingvoices/i-m-vegan-but-that-shouldn-t-stop-you-from-reading-this
<span>I’m Vegan, But That Shouldn’t Stop You From Reading This</span>
by <a href="https://jwa.org/blog/author/lila-zinner" hreflang="und">Lila Zinner</a><span><span lang="" about="https://jwa.org/users/lklebe" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">lklebe</span></span>
<span>Mon, 02/25/2019 - 10:04</span>
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden field-item"> <a href="https://jwa.org/media/yuba-noodles-with-tofu"><img src="https://jwa.org/themes/jwawesome/images/lazy.gif" width="300" height="371" alt="Yuba Noodles with Tofu" title="Yuba Noodles with Tofu" data-src="//d3q94h10rclvvz.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/scale_width_300px/public/mediaobjects/lila_0.jpg?itok=Tw4OEK8T" class="b-lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /></a>
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<div class="field field-name-field-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Photograph of a vegan noodle dish from 2018-2019 Rising Voices Fellow Lila Zinner's Instagram account about veganism.</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-section-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>My identity consists of many different but overlapping sub-identities. Some were given to me—Jewish, female, etc... and some I’ve chosen. Four months ago, I chose a new one for myself: vegan.</p>
<p>My veganism has already become a defining part of me, and is based on one of my core values: saving the environment. Adopting a vegan, vegetarian, or even semi-vegetarian diet is the best way to take personal action to save the environment. Animal agriculture is <a href="https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/meat-environment/">responsible for more greenhouse</a> gas emissions than every single transportation system combined. The livestock industry is <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org/go-veggie/environment/top-10-reasons">responsible</a> for 65% of human-produced nitrous-oxide—a chemical that has 300 times the global warming potential as CO2—and 67% of the total human-generated methane, which is 23 times as warming as CO2. In fact, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/08/if-everyone-ate-beans-instead-of-beef/535536/">one study</a> shows that if the entire world ate beans instead of beef, our climate problems would be entirely solved. Kind of crazy, right!?</p>
<p>I went vegetarian in March of last year, mainly because it is a fairly common choice among my peers, and as I continued to research, I realized eating meat was definitely not worth its detrimental environmental impact. Although I was vegetarian, supporting animal agriculture through consuming eggs and dairy ate away at my conscious; <strong>I knew it was wrong.</strong> The guilt I felt was immeasurable, and I went vegan in October, in pursuit of what I call a “guilt-free diet.” Now, I can’t imagine not being vegan. Every day I am thankful that my life led me to veganism, and subsequently, the immense passion I have for it. However, I recognize that for many, my lifestyle simply isn’t an option.</p>
<p>Veganism is hard to uphold, mainly because of issues related to accessibility. For American families living in poverty, fast food—comprised of cheap animal products—is often the only affordable option. I’m extremely grateful that I’m able to maintain a vegan lifestyle, but I also recognize that it’s a privilege.</p>
<p>I have parents who are willing to change their habits and lifestyle to accommodate mine. I have the time and money to experiment with new foods and meat alternatives. I have access to grocery stores, and money with which to buy groceries. And because of all this, I <em>can</em> be vegan. I <em>can</em> help save the world in this way, but I also have a responsibility to do so.</p>
<p>I have the means, the passion, and the determination to be vegan. Therefore, I must be. I must be for all the people who don’t have the same opportunities as me, those who can’t alter their lives, like I can, to help the planet. The fact that not everyone can be vegan makes it even more vital I continue my veganism; and, it makes it even more vital that people like me, with similar privilege and power, take real steps to decrease their carbon footprints.</p>
<p>Let’s use the audience of this blog post as an example. To read this post, you must have access to a phone or computer, which already presents a certain level of privilege. In addition, you must have some free time, meaning time not spent earning money to provide for yourself. I can say pretty comfortably that if you’re reading this right now, you probably have the ability to shift your diet in some way. Maybe try “<a href="https://www.meatlessmonday.com/about-us/">meatless Monday</a>,” or only eat one meat meal per day. Try cutting out red meat, fish, or chicken. You can even help with a simple swap to a non-dairy milk option like soy or almond. No effort is too small!</p>
<p>I recognize that adopting a vegan diet isn’t easy for many reasons—time, cost, accessibility, nutrition, allergies—but I’m here to say it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. By implementing small changes to your diet, like the ones I just mentioned, you can contribute to helping our planet. Earth has given us so much, yet we give her so little in return. We abuse her; we disrespect the living beings with which we coexist. You have the power to change this. You have a responsibility to change this.</p>
<p>There are infinite ways to make your diet better for the planet, and I’d like to help you make some of those changes! And to let you in on a secret, sometimes it’s really fun! I run a food account on Instagram under the name <a href="https://www.instagram.com/plantbasedlila/">@plantbasedlila</a>. I began the account to show people the realities of a vegan diet: Yes, I do get protein. No, I don’t only eat salad. My posts are meant to debunk prevalent myths surrounding veganism/vegetarianism. I don’t expect every person reading this to become vegan tomorrow. My goal is for everyone to make one sustainable choice in the near future, whether it’s a pescatarian diet, one vegetarian meal, or even just a soy latte instead of regular latte.</p>
<p>Do what you can, because you <em>can</em>.</p>
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<a href="https://jwa.org/topics/food" hreflang="en">Food</a>
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<mark class="hidden" data-comment-timestamp="1551147687"></mark><div class="submitted"><span class="username"><span lang="" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">Emma</span></span>3 months ago</div>
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<div class="field field-name-comment-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Yay for veganism!! </p>
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</section>Mon, 25 Feb 2019 15:04:31 +0000lklebe25351 at https://jwa.orgNeither Egg, Nor Cream: An Afternoon at the Tucson Jewish Film Festivalhttps://jwa.org/blog/neither-egg-nor-cream-afternoon-at-tucson-jewish-film-festival
<span>Neither Egg, Nor Cream: An Afternoon at the Tucson Jewish Film Festival</span>
by <a href="https://jwa.org/blog/author/justine-orlovsky-schnitzler" hreflang="und">Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler</a><span><span lang="" about="https://jwa.org/users/rlong" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">rlong</span></span>
<span>Thu, 01/31/2019 - 10:05</span>
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden field-item"> <a href="https://jwa.org/media/egg-cream-film-still"><img src="https://jwa.org/themes/jwawesome/images/lazy.gif" width="300" height="200" alt=""Egg Cream" Film Still" title=""Egg Cream" Film Still" data-src="//d3q94h10rclvvz.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/scale_width_300px/public/mediaobjects/du5wgzvwwaedztl.jpg?itok=QybV2jSa" class="b-lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /></a>
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<div class="field field-name-field-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p><em>Egg Cream</em> film still</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-section-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Before last week, my relationship to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_cream">the egg cream</a> could have been summarized by a simple story. A few years ago, while at a delicatessen in New Jersey, I ordered an egg cream because I had a vague sense of its status as a firmly Jewish invention. I was sure it was the only proper drink to accompany a pastrami on rye, and expectations were high. I watched the milk and chocolate syrup meld by way of seltzer jetting out from a real old-fashioned bottle, complete with pump. The person preparing my drink stirred frantically and quickly, and the head of bubbles appeared and floated above the chocolate milk underneath. It was quick, simple, and beautiful to watch.</p>
<p>It wasn’t quite so beautiful in taste. I realized a few sips in that the bubbles and chocolate and milk weren’t really working for me. I finished it, dutifully, because I was in Clifton and my pastrami was getting cold and I’d paid $6.50 for the privilege of drinking an egg cream. More than anything, I was embarrassed that I wasn’t in love with a fountain drink I felt I was supposed to love. I didn’t grow up in the Northeast, but my parents did, and even if they didn’t drink egg creams regularly, the option existed on menus at delis they frequented. I had always loved being a North Carolinian, but took pride in knowing every NJ Transit stop between Bloomfield Avenue and Penn Station. I sprinkled Yiddish into everyday conversation. I always polished off every wayward piece of lox that fell off of a bagel schmeared with more cream cheese than should be allowed. I assumed egg creams would delight the taste buds grounded in the deep recesses of my DNA.</p>
<p>All of this is to say: When I saw a flyer advertising the <a href="https://www.tucsonjcc.org/programs/arts/tucson-jewish-film-festival/">Tucson International Jewish Film Festival</a> at the Jewish Community Center, with something called <em><a href="https://medium.com/@sfjewishfilm/decembers-online-short-egg-cream-e0588a9fbc0a">Egg Cream</a></em> listed as a short film to be shown toward the end of January, I was intrigued. Years had passed since my ill-fated attempt at a romance with the beverage. Approaching it by way of documentary appealed to the historian in me, and so last Sunday I set off for the Tucson JCC.</p>
<p>The screening was held in a conference hall within the JCC, with dozens of long tables set up and hundreds of chairs facing the projection screen. At each place setting sat a packaged black and white cookie (“COURTESY OF JOEY’S FINE FOODS: NEWARK, NEW JERSEY”), a container of U-bet’s chocolate syrup, and a plastic cup and spoon. I looked to my left and right for milk or seltzer—no luck. I hadn’t anticipated the possibility of actual egg creams being provided during the screening, and assumed the lack of two key ingredients meant we’d have to wait until after the short film to assemble our drinks. I finished my black and white before the lights dimmed.</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Black and white cookie at the Tuscon JCC for the screening of <em>Egg Cream</em>. Photo courtesy of Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler.</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-section-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Two other shorts preceded <em>Egg Cream</em>—<em><a href="https://torahstitchbystitch.org/events-activity/documentary-film/">Stitchers: Tapestry of Spirit</a></em>, which highlighted an international art project in which women across the globe gathered to cross-stitch the entire Torah; and <em><a href="https://wendysshabbat.com/">Wendy’s Shabbat</a></em>, a meditation on the importance of community for elderly Jews. Each touched me deeply. For the artists in Tapestry of Spirit, each word of the Torah stitched by hand represented a new way of living the text. Each line became intimately familiar, reflecting the weight of their efforts. In <em>Wendy’s Shabbat</em>, the filmmaker followed her grandmother, a widowed Jewish woman living in a retirement community in California, to her weekly refuge: a Shabbat dinner held at a nearby Wendy’s. Faith was not the primary motivation for these weekly Sabbath dinners at the fast food joint—rather, it was the promise of togetherness. The act of sharing a space was a greater ritual than saying prayers. Together, these shorts proved to be an ideal primer for <em>Egg Cream</em> as they too told stories about community and tradition. </p>
<p>One of the first lines in <em>Egg Cream</em> introduces the great paradox at the heart of this delicatessen classic. “The egg cream,” one of the filmmakers intones over lingering shots of syrup, milk, and seltzer, “contains neither egg nor cream.” So begins a fifteen-minute inside look into the making of a truly American and Jewish beverage—perhaps more ubiquitous than Manischewitz. The film documents the humble beginnings of the drink, born out of necessity and guzzled during sweltering summers in the Lower East Side tenements. A historian points out the bittersweet nature of egg creams as an indulgence of poverty, noting that for Jewish Americans of a certain age and origin, the drink is likely to invoke memories of harder times.</p>
<p>Much like other delicatessen specialties that have undergone a cultural re-fascination and reworking over the last decade, the egg cream has had its share of facelifts. At one point in the documentary, the young daughter of the filmmaker delights in an egg cream topped with real whipped cream and drizzled in fudge, a far cry from the traditional recipe. Sorrow is nowhere to be found.</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Egg Cream at the Tuscon JCC for the screening of <em>Egg Cream</em>. Photo courtesy of Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler.</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-section-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Endless shots of overflowing egg creams did the trick in making me crave one for the first time since my initial, ill-fated encounter with the drink. By the end of the film, JCC volunteers were coming around to each table with cartons of milk and canned seltzer, warning us not to shake either. I tore into the ingredients eagerly, allowing myself more U-bet syrup than is generally advised and spilling froth on myself in an attempt to whip the milk, seltzer, and syrup into a passable fountain drink.</p>
<p>Was it better than my true-blue deli experience years prior? In taste, I couldn’t discern much difference—though egg cream purists would certainly dispute my assertion. (They still aren’t my beverage choice when eating at a delicatessen.) But there was a sweetness in the participation of building one, amongst dozens of NY transplants, on a Sunday afternoon in Arizona. Enough time had passed since my first egg cream that I missed the idea of them. The same seemed to ring true for the woman to my left—she chuckled to herself as she mixed the seltzer in, confessing that carbonation always bothered her—but didn’t leave a drop behind in her cup.</p>
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<a href="https://jwa.org/topics/food" hreflang="en">Food</a>, <a href="https://jwa.org/topics/film" hreflang="en">Film</a>
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</section>Thu, 31 Jan 2019 15:05:40 +0000rlong25294 at https://jwa.orgEpisode 3: People of the Cookbook (Transcript)https://jwa.org/podcasts/canwetalk/episode-3-people-of-the-cookbook/transcript
<span>Episode 3: People of the Cookbook (Transcript)</span>
<span><span lang="" about="https://jwa.org/users/rlong" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">rlong</span></span>
<span>Mon, 12/31/2018 - 11:10</span>
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<div class="field field-name-field-section-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p><a href="https://jwa.org/podcasts/canwetalk/people-of-cookbook">Episode 3: People of the Cookbook</a></p>
<p>[Theme Music]</p>
<p>Nahanni Rous: “Every cuisine tells a story,” writes Claudia Roden in the Book of Jewish Food. “Jewish food tells the story of an uprooted, migrating people and their vanished worlds.” </p>
<p>[Music]</p>
<p>Nahanni: I’m Nahanni Rous and this is <em>Can We Talk?</em>, the podcast of the Jewish Women’s Archive. With Passover just around the corner, I’m visiting the celebrated writer and chef Claudia Roden in London. We’ll talk about cooking for Passover, Claudia’s childhood in Egypt, and what makes Jewish food Jewish. </p>
<p>[Theme Music]</p>
<p>Nahanni: Claudia’s quest to collect her family recipes led to a lifelong career as a cookbook author—in addition to <em>The Book of Jewish Food</em>, she’s also well-known for her Middle Eastern, Italian, and Spanish cookbooks. But Claudia does a lot more than write recipes—<em>The Book of Jewish Food</em> traces the DNA of Jewish cuisine. With food as a vehicle, Claudia takes us on a tasting tour through the kitchens of Jewish history.</p>
<p>[Train Sound]</p>
<p>Conductor: The next station is Golders Green. Please mind the gap between the train and the platform. </p>
<p>Nahanni: At the end of a dead end street in this historically Jewish neighborhood, Claudia Roden’s stone house is hidden behind an arbor. </p>
<p>[Doorbell rings, door opens] </p>
<p>Nahanni: The heavy oak door opens, and Claudia Roden smiles.</p>
<p>Claudia Roden: Was it wet? Was it raining?</p>
<p>Nahanni: It’s a typical gray London day. But in Claudia’s kitchen, yellow and blue Mediterranean tiles brighten the walls. Roasted red peppers wait in a Cuisinart, and something smooth and eggy bubbles on the stove. </p>
<p>Claudia: This is a ricotta pancake, with ricotta, eggs, and cheese.</p>
<p>Nahanni: It’s called Cassola, and it’s something the Jews of Rome made. Claudia blends the red peppers in the Cuisinart. </p>
<p>Claudia: Well, it’s certainly got a nice color. Now I’ll tell you what we’re eating. This is a pepper sauce to go with fish.</p>
<p>[Stove lighting, fish frying sound]</p>
<p>Claudia: I’m making a fish that actually Moroccans did for Passover. </p>
<p>Nahanni: <em>The Book of Jewish Food</em> includes recipes of the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe, although most of the book is dedicated to the widely varying cuisines of the Sephardi Jews of the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Asia. She writes that the Ashkenazi world is a cold world, one of chicken fat, onions, cabbage, and potatoes. The Sephardi world is a warm one—of eggplants, rice, figs, olive oil, and orange blossom water. </p>
<p>[Music]</p>
<p>Nahanni: Claudia was born in Cairo in 1936. Her grandparents were from Turkey and Syria. She shows me a framed photograph from the 1890s of a bearded man in a turban and kaftan. </p>
<p>Claudia: This is my great grandfather, who was the chief rabbi of Aleppo. And at that time, Aleppo was good for the Jews. </p>
<p>Nahanni: Claudia’s family still has a key to the synagogue of Aleppo, which is one of the oldest in the world. This winter it was damaged in the crossfire of Syria’s civil war. The last handful of Jews in Aleppo were evacuated last year. But Claudia’s grandparents left over a hundred years ago, for economic reasons. They were traders, and the opening of the Suez Canal had dried up business along the Silk Road. So they went to Cairo. In those days, people were coming to Cairo from all over the Ottoman world.</p>
<p>Claudia: It was a cosmopolitan country, but the Jewish community itself was a mosaic—of people who came from Iraq, from Iran, from Morocco, from Salonika. So we were used to being part of a mixed community. We didn’t see it as mixed, we just see this is how we are.</p>
<p>Nahanni: Claudia grew up speaking French, Italian, English, and Arabic. Some of her happiest childhood memories are of Passover seders… the food, the huge family gathering. She and her cousins giggled at the irony of celebrating the Exodus from Egypt, because they were still living in Egypt and quite comfortably at the time.</p>
<p>Claudia: For me, it was very happy. Of course it wasn’t so for everyone and it wasn’t so at the end when things turned sour. </p>
<p>Nahanni: The Suez Canal had drawn Claudia’s grandparents to Egypt, and in the end it was a crisis over the Canal that forced her family out. When President Nasser nationalized the Canal in 1956, England, France, and Israel invaded. </p>
<p>Claudia: In retaliation Nasser threw out the British, the French, and the Jews who didn’t have Egyptian passports. </p>
<p>Nahanni: The government also sent many Jews to internment camps, and seized businesses.</p>
<p>Claudia: There was a lot of fear about what is going to happen to us, so people just said, we’ll go. So they left, and they couldn’t take anything. They could take 50 pounds only, in their pocket. </p>
<p>Nahanni: Cairo’s wealthy and tight-knit Jewish community scattered throughout the world. Most of the poorer Jews went to Israel. Claudia’s family came to London.</p>
<p>Claudia: When my parents bought their house in Golders Green, right away the neighbors came and brought flowers.</p>
<p>Nahanni: The neighbors were German Jews. Golders Green was already home to many Jews who had fled persecution in Europe. </p>
<p>Claudia: So my mother was so touched that they brought us flowers that she said will you come for tea. And so my mother made a huge number of things, all things that were our staple. There were sambusak filled with cheese, there were phyllo with spinach, phyllo filled with almonds. [Laughs] And when they came, they were stunned. One of them looked at the table, and she said, “Are you sure you’re Jewish?” She didn’t recognize any food. </p>
<p>Nahanni: Claudia has hung on to that story for a long time. It shows how important food is to identity… and how deeply personal it was for her. Her life in Golders Green was full of Egyptian Jews regrouping after their own Exodus from Egypt. … relatives and childhood friends seemed to always be passing through, on their way to somewhere else, deciding where to settle. It was around this time that Claudia started collecting recipes.</p>
<p>Claudia: And everybody at that time was exchanging recipes. People would say, can you give me your sambusak, and I’ll give you my orange cake, so you can remember me every time you make it. There was this thing—I might never see you again. </p>
<p>Nahanni: They had left behind homes and businesses.</p>
<p>Claudia: That was trauma. But nothing compared to the people that we’ll miss. And something about them, was like the most precious thing you could give was a recipe. I did feel it strongly and I wrote down everything they said, every word. </p>
<p>[Music]</p>
<p>Nahanni: Claudia has researched and written about the cuisines of many countries and cultures. How does she decide what makes something a Jewish dish? In many places, Jewish cuisine seems just like the local flavor.</p>
<p>Claudia: The Jews didn’t invent it from nowhere. And so there was the Jewish food of Syria... was Syrian. But because the Jews who were kosher didn’t eat in Muslim homes, their food did develop slightly differently.</p>
<p>Nahanni: Jewish dietary laws prohibit mixing dairy and meat, and eating pork and shellfish. Though Sabbath feasting is practically a requirement, cooking on Shabbat is not allowed. Unique cuisines developed within these restrictions.</p>
<p>Claudia: For instance, in Italy and in France, there is Goose salami, Goose prosciutto. So the substitutes was what made it Jewish.</p>
<p>Nahanni: Also, hybrid foods Jews created when they brought traditions from one place to another and adapted them. For example, Portuguese dishes with Indian flavors in the Jewish cuisine of Cochin, and Baghdadi fish cakes served with chutney for Friday night dinner in Calcutta. And when Jews in India lived under the British Raj they started making bread pudding.</p>
<p>Claudia: But they were making bread pudding with coconut milk, not with milk, so that they could eat it after a dinner of meat. </p>
<p>Nahanni: It was like fusion cuisine, before such an idea existed. </p>
<p>Claudia: It was a fusion but it was a fusion that took a big upheaval of populations.</p>
<p>[Music]</p>
<p>Nahanni: An Iraqi friend once gave Claudia his family recipes. She made an innocent mistake and presented them at a conference about Baghdad. The Baghdadi Jews in the audience were in an uproar.</p>
<p>Claudia: No! We don’t eat this. We don’t eat this… from everywhere. I said, Sammy Daniels told me that. “Sammy Daniels is from Mosul!” This herb we never ever use. You see they were so emotional about a herb.</p>
<p>Nahanni: Claudia tells this story to demonstrate how distinct regional cuisine can be. The Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Mosul each had their own Jewish food. But there’s a ghostlier truth here. Jewish communities flourished in Iraq for more than two thousand years. In the 1920s, Baghdad’s population was a third Jewish... much more Jewish than New York City. Now there are no Jews in Baghdad or Mosul. In the middle of the twentieth century, Jews were forced out of the great Sephardi communities that Claudia writes about: Cairo, Aleppo, Salonika, Tripoli, Fez, and hundreds more. As she says, these are recipes from a vanished world. </p>
<p>[Music]</p>
<p>Claudia: Do you want to spread it? I think maybe with a fork is easier or better… </p>
<p>Nahanni:Ok, and the spinach is going on top?</p>
<p>Claudia: Yeah. </p>
<p>Nahanni: Claudia is coaching me through a Turkish Passover dish called sfongo… it’s a spinach pie that uses mashed potatoes instead of phyllo dough. It’s a simple recipe, unlike a lot of traditional cooking that people, mostly women, did. </p>
<p>Claudia: There was so much effort and a lot of the things took a lot of time. And they wanted to take a lot of time because it showed that they cared and they bothered.</p>
<p>Nahanni: Claudia once met a group of elderly Jewish women in Izmir, Turkey who were eager to put their recipes in her care.</p>
<p>Claudia: They were saying, the young Jewish women now aren’t going to cook like we do anymore. They haven’t got time. We’ve got to write it down because we might be the last ones.</p>
<p>[Music]</p>
<p>Nahanni: Recipes that Claudia helped keep alive are now being cooked in homes and restaurants all over the world… She applauds Israeli chefs who dig into diaspora cuisines to ground their cooking in tradition.</p>
<p>Claudia: If you go and invent just from the air, it’s not a culture it’s not a civilization. It’s something that changes every week. It’s a fashion. Now in America they want to do not potato latkes but zucchini latkes! And I say, “Ok, do the zucchini latkes, but we mustn’t forget the potato latkes!” The Jews have this huge, huge culture to draw from, because they were everywhere.</p>
<p>[Music]</p>
<p>Claudia: I hope I’ve put enough salt.</p>
<p>[Salt shaking]</p>
<p>Nahanni: Even with all of the historical significance that flavors Claudia’s dishes, when she cooks, she’s focused on the here and now.</p>
<p>Claudia: No, when I cook I think of the people I’m cooking for and how good it is. Voila… Bon appetit.</p>
<p>Nahanni: Bon appetit indeed. Potato and spinach Sfongo from Turkey, Moroccan fish with red pepper sauce, and Cassola, the ricotta cake from Rome. Delicious. For nearly 50 years Claudia Roden has been keeping Jewish traditions alive and helping us put delicious food on our tables. Now, just before we go, here are a couple ideas for your Passover feasts.</p>
<p>Daniel Douek: My name is Daniel Douek, and Claudia Roden is my father’s sister, so she’s my aunt. I spent much of my childhood sitting in Claudia’s kitchen tasting all the stuff that she was cooking.</p>
<p>Daniel: I urge people to make Claudia’s Egyptian charoset recipe, which is basically dates and a sweet wine, and you just cook it for a bit. I would advise against Manischewitz, cause it’s terrible, and instead what I do is to look for really good Italian Marsala wine.</p>
<p>Daniel: So we had the charoset and we had the coconut jam and I never saw it anywhere else. Page 619, here we go. Coconut Jam. And she writes… this jam was made for Passover in Egypt. My mother would give each of us a pot to take home. We wondered every year why we never made it at other times because we loved it so much. So we would take the matzah, put some charoset, put the coconut jam on it, AND put a piece of lamb on top of that. And it’s… I was going to swear there but I won’t… it’s absolutely wonderful. Coconut jam for Pesach. There you go.</p>
<p>Nahanni: That was Daniel Douek, nephew of Claudia Roden, reading from <em>The Book of Jewish Food</em>. Thank you for joining <em>Can We Talk?</em> for our discussion with Claudia Roden. </p>
<p>[Theme music]</p>
<p>Nahanni: Our team includes Jewish Women’s Archive Executive Director Judith Rosenbaum and Director of Engagement Tara Metal. Ibby Caputo edited the script. Our theme music is by Girls in Trouble. </p>
<p>[Theme Music]</p>
<p>Nahanni: Visit us online at <a>jwa.org/canwetalk</a> to listen, subscribe and make a donation. To help others find the podcast, please review <em>Can We Talk?</em> on iTunes. I’m your host, Nahanni Rous. Have a happy and delicious Passover.</p>
<p>[Theme Music fades]</p>
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</section>Mon, 31 Dec 2018 16:10:44 +0000rlong25152 at https://jwa.orgRecipe: Sweet Pumpkin Coils for Fallhttps://jwa.org/blog/sweet-pumpkin-coils-for-fall
<span>Recipe: Sweet Pumpkin Coils for Fall</span>
by <a href="https://jwa.org/blog/author/paola-gavin" hreflang="und">Paola Gavin</a><span><span lang="" about="https://jwa.org/users/rlong" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">rlong</span></span>
<span>Thu, 10/04/2018 - 15:18</span>
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden field-item"> <a href="https://jwa.org/media/sweet-pumpkin-coils"><img src="https://jwa.org/themes/jwawesome/images/lazy.gif" width="300" height="400" alt="Sweet Pumpkin Coils" title="Sweet Pumpkin Coils" data-src="//d3q94h10rclvvz.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/scale_width_300px/public/mediaobjects/img_3693.jpg?itok=nm__uBGa" class="b-lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /></a>
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<div class="field field-name-field-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Sweet pumpkin coils from Paola Gavin's <em>Hazana: Jewish Vegetarian Cooking</em>. Photographer: Mowie Kay. Food Stylist: Maud Eden.</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-section-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Pumpkin has been beloved in Sephardic Jewish communities ever since the sixteenth century, when it was first introduced to Europe from North America. Greek and Turkish Jews use pumpkin to make a variety of soups, stews, and fillings for sweet and savory pastries (<em>bulemas</em>, <em>filas</em>, <em>borekas</em>, <em>pastels</em>), as well as <em>fritadas</em> (baked omelettes). They often serve a sweet pumpkin custard called <em>fnaro</em> at weddings, circumcisions, and other special occasions. Italian Jews often use pumpkin to stuff ravioli (<em>tortelli di zucca</em>), make fritters (<em>fritelle di zucca</em>), and bake cakes such as <em>torta di barucca</em>. The ingredient is essential to <em>zucca franta</em>: mashed pumpkin flavored with olive oil and herbs that is traditionally served to break the fast of Yom Kippur. Tunisian Jews often begin their meals with a cold pumpkin puree called <em>ajlouk el qar</em>, which is flavored with lemon, ground caraway, coriander. As it is associated with fall, pumpkin is often served during the autumn Jewish holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, and Hanukkah. Now that fall is finally here, please enjoy this recipe for sweet pumpkin coils!</p>
<p><em>Recipe initially featured in</em> <a href="https://www.hardiegrant.com/us/publishing/bookfinder/book/hazana-by-paola-gavin/9781787130425">Hazana: Jewish Vegetarian Cooking</a> <em>by Paola Gavin, published by Quadrille, now adapted.</em></p>
<p></p><h2>Sweet Pumpkin Coils</h2>
Rodanchas de kalavassa amarillia (Greece)
<p>In the past, these delicious coiled pastries from Thessalonika were made with homemade pastry, but commercial filo pastry makes them much quicker and easier to prepare. The filling is simply made with pureed pumpkin, mixed with sugar and a dash of olive oil, chopped walnuts, cinnamon, and rose water. <em>Rodanchas</em> are usually served lightly dusted with icing sugar.</p>
<h2>Ingredients</h2>
<p>12 sheets of fresh or thawed filo pastry, each about 30 x 18 cm<br />
extra virgin olive oil, for brushing<br />
icing sugar, for dusting</p>
<p>Ingredients for the filling:<br />
1 small pumpkin, about 900g (2 lb)<br />
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil<br />
100 g (1/2 cup) superfine sugar<br />
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon<br />
2 tablespoons rose water<br />
100 g (1 cup) freshly shelled walnuts, finely ground in a blender or food processor</p>
<p>Makes 12 pastries.</p>
<h2>Directions</h2>
<p>To make the filling, bake the whole pumpkin in a preheated 180C / 350F / Gas Mark 4 oven for 30 minutes or until tender.</p>
<p>Remove from the oven and when it is cool enough to handle, cut in half and remove the skin, pith and seeds. Place the pumpkin flesh in a large bowl and mash with a potato ricer. Add the olive oil, sugar, cinnamon, and rose water and mix well. Stir in the chopped walnuts.</p>
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<a href="https://jwa.org/media/hazana-jewish-vegetarian-cooking"><img class="b-lazy" src="https://jwa.org/themes/jwawesome/images/lazy.gif" data-src="//d3q94h10rclvvz.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/scale_width_300px/public/mediaobjects/ywnzgfir.jpg?itok=AYmQwjjl" typeof="foaf:Image" /></a>
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<div class="field field-name-field-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Paola Gavin's <em>Hazana: Jewish Vegetarian Cooking</em>.</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-section-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Lay a sheet of filo pastry on a clean cloth, with the longer side nearest to you, and brush lightly with oil. Spoon a line of filling about 1.5 cm (1/2 in) thick along the long side of the pastry, just inside the edge.</p>
<p>Fold the edge over the filling then roll up into a long, thin tube, brushing the filo lightly with oil as you roll. Take hold of one end of the log and loosely roll it up like a coiled snake, being careful not to tear the pastry. Repeat with the remaining pastry and filling.</p>
<p>Arrange the coils side by side on a well-oiled baking sheet and brush the tops lightly with oil.</p>
<p>Bake in a preheated 180C / 350F / Gas Mark 4 oven for 15 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and golden. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. When cold, dust lightly with icing sugar.</p>
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Topics:
<a href="https://jwa.org/topics/food" hreflang="en">Food</a>, <a href="https://jwa.org/topics/food-writing" hreflang="en">Food Writing</a>, <a href="https://jwa.org/topics/recipes" hreflang="en">Recipes</a>
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</section>Thu, 04 Oct 2018 19:18:24 +0000rlong24981 at https://jwa.orgAuthentic Community Organizing, From Food to Feminismhttps://jwa.org/blog/risingvoices/authentic-community-organizing-from-food-to-feminism
<span>Authentic Community Organizing, From Food to Feminism</span>
by <a href="https://jwa.org/blog/author/sofia-gardenswartz" hreflang="und">Sofia Gardenswartz</a><span><span lang="" about="https://jwa.org/users/smuroff" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">smuroff</span></span>
<span>Tue, 06/12/2018 - 02:05</span>
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden field-item"> <a href="https://jwa.org/media/womens-march-on-washington-2017"><img src="https://jwa.org/themes/jwawesome/images/lazy.gif" width="300" height="200" alt="Women's March on Washington, 2017" title="Women's March on Washington, 2017" data-src="//d3q94h10rclvvz.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/scale_width_300px/public/mediaobjects/dc_womens_march_32452358155.jpeg?itok=6DoPX5CG" class="b-lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /></a>
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<div class="field field-name-field-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Women's March on Washington, 2017</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-section-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>At the taco shop down the street from my house, Mariana knows my order by heart: California burrito, swap the sour cream for guacamole. Macho’s is my favorite stop for a <a href="https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/glossary"><em>treif</em></a> dinner after an evening spent surfing at Ocean Beach. It’s certainly not fine dining, but there’s a special feeling I get when I sit down and recognize all of the other customers—a California <a href="https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/glossary"><em>seder</em></a>, if you will.</p>
<p>Living in San Diego, I’ve grown up with a distinct regional identity. It takes me just as long to drive to the Tijuana airport as the San Diego one, and when I travel, I always know I’m home when I step off an airplane and the first language I hear is Spanish. Around here, tacos aren’t restricted to Tuesdays. There’s a unique cultural exchange that I haven’t experienced elsewhere, a give-and-take that enables restaurants like Macho’s to be sandwiched between a Vietnamese-owned nail salon and a Starbucks.</p>
<p>From dining on Mexican-fusion cuisine at Macho’s, to learning about the intersectional practices of <a href="http://kenjc.org/new/">San Diego’s large Mexican-Jewish population</a>, my identity has largely been shaped by San Diego’s multiculturalism.</p>
<p>Yet in our globalized world, personal identities are being lost as whole cultures are packaged and shipped en masse. In some cases, this has facilitated positive cultural phenomena; <em>Top Chef</em> contestant Katsuji Tanabe, for example, received critical acclaim for his Los Angeles restaurant <a href="https://www.mexikoshernyc.com/">MexiKosher</a>, which prepares Mexican flavors according to strict kosher <a href="https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/glossary"><em>halakhah</em></a>.</p>
<p>But more often than not, cultural exportation more closely resembles exploitation. Even our <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/728297587418247168?lang=en">p</a><a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/728297587418247168?lang=en">resident’s Cinco de Mayo tweets</a> equate inauthentic taco bowls with an entire people’s culture and heritage. It’s cultural appropriation, perhaps not by name but by impact. And it’s increasingly contributing to the loss of authenticity as languages, methods, and histories are reduced to the “ethnic foods” aisle of the grocery store.</p>
<p>Culinary traditions aren’t the only things being commodified. From hydroflasks with #feminist stickers to t-shirts proclaiming “The Future is Female™,” when feminist causes are commodified we lose sight of their true meaning in lieu of cheap branding. Feminism is trendy, but rather than exploiting that by producing and consuming goods, we as activists should be using this newfound recognition to call for structural and systemic change.</p>
<p>This kind of change isn’t simple to achieve, and requires hard, unglorified work; grassroots community organizing and multi-generational movements like the inspiring <a href="https://marchforourlives.com/home/">March for Our Lives</a> are a great start. But as important an issue as gun violence is, there are so many causes vying for our attention. As the Parkland students have taught us, movements are most successful when we eschew meaningless mantras for authentic and sustained action.</p>
<p>To truly repair the world, we must approach each problem with an open mind. And, perhaps, an empty stomach doesn’t hurt either. </p>
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Topics:
<a href="https://jwa.org/topics/feminism" hreflang="en">Feminism</a>, <a href="https://jwa.org/topics/food" hreflang="en">Food</a>
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<mark class="hidden" data-comment-timestamp="1528938129"></mark><div class="submitted"><span class="username"><span lang="" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">Emma Mair</span></span>11 months ago</div>
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<div class="field field-name-comment-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>I love this ,Sofi!! Very very well written and an excellent argument. </p>
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</section>Tue, 12 Jun 2018 06:05:12 +0000smuroff24714 at https://jwa.orgKitchen Culture and Mehttps://jwa.org/blog/risingvoices/kitchen-culture-and-me
<span>Kitchen Culture and Me</span>
by <a href="https://jwa.org/blog/author/tamar-cohen" hreflang="und">Tamar Cohen</a><span><span lang="" about="https://jwa.org/users/smuroff" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">smuroff</span></span>
<span>Wed, 02/28/2018 - 01:41</span>
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden field-item"> <a href="https://jwa.org/media/cooking-woman"><img src="https://jwa.org/themes/jwawesome/images/lazy.gif" width="300" height="251" alt="Cooking Woman" title="Cooking Woman" data-src="//d3q94h10rclvvz.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/scale_width_300px/public/mediaobjects/tamar_0.jpg?itok=nBadf5wG" class="b-lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /></a>
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<div class="field field-name-field-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Vintage illustration of a woman in a kitchen.</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-section-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>I have this memory where I'm five and it's Thanksgiving, or I'm 12 and it's Chanukah, or I'm 15 and in AP World History. They're all the same memory, and there are more. Almost every year of my public-school education, there has been some kind of school celebration of cultural and ethnic diversity. The common factor in these celebrations is food, because what better way to bring a diverse (and generally uninterested) group of students together?</p>
<p>There's a point in each celebration when a student stands up, presents their contribution, and says, "my mom helped me make..." or "I made...with my mom." While these celebrations are about diversity, this is an obvious commonality, which sheds light on the problematic phenomenon of women with families spending their days in the kitchen. These events celebrate the different cultures these women feed – so how do we go about honoring these women and their contributions, while also recognizing that, for many women, the goal is, and has been, to break free from this traditional role?</p>
<p>Granted, I've grown up as a “good Jewish girl,” so it's highly likely that the concept of “kitchen culture” seems more apparent and relevant to me than to others. I should explain – I’ve spent hours in my synagogue's kitchen with women (and those couple of men with culinary training), making latkes or chicken soup for unwell temple members, and listening to the score sheet of whose son got into which college. There I learned a separate set of Jewish customs, these pertaining to how to prepare food. Some of these, such as the imperative cracking of eggs into separate bowls before mixing them in, come from <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/kashrut-101/"><em>kashrut</em></a>. Others clearly evolved from hours spent in kitchens by generations of women like us – for example, one must never prepare food for friends and family without some kind of music playing.</p>
<p>This culture, however, seems to play out very differently in the different cultures represented in school heritage events. For example, one of my classmates, from a Mexican family that recently immigrated to the US, had his mother make tamales for my AP World History class. I'm not talking about sample-sized pieces, either. No, her intent was clearly to feed the entire class of hungry high school students. The thing is, <a href="https://www.everydaysouthwest.com/how-to/mexican-beef-tamales-recipe/">making tamales</a> is an all-day process. When my classmate was asked if his mother minded spending so much time on this, he rolled his eyes and replied that she'd insisted, that she wouldn't hear of not doing it. She was proud to share her culture, and to feed hungry people.</p>
<p>By contrast, there is the example of my longtime classmate of English and Italian descent, who made <a href="https://www.culinaryhill.com/pizzelle-italian-cookies/">pizzelles</a> with her father, but not without noting to the class that her mom, "doesn't really bake." I happen to know her mother, however, and I know that she is quite a good cook – so why would my classmate feel the need to justify her father's participation by downplaying her mother's skill? Was it somehow shameful to her that her mom, capable of cooking, had chosen not to? Isn't that very choice the goal that feminists have been working for?</p>
<p>These types of events have made me realize how much my view of food was centered around women being in the kitchen. This shocked me, initially, since I’ve always considered myself and my family to be completely egalitarian in terms of division of labor. But when I thought about it more, thought about that time spent in the synagogue kitchen with so many women, I came to the conclusion that it comes down to choice.</p>
<p>See, most of the women in my synagogue community are pretty darn high-powered. At least two of them run their own businesses, and at least another two are at the top of the hierarchy in their jobs. They choose to congregate in the kitchen because of the culture and companionship that exists there. Maybe that grew out of and was necessitated by the expectation that women are the ones who do this work, but it's a rich and beautiful culture of its own all the same.</p>
<p>In the end, this controversy also comes down to a problem I’ve faced a lot: fighting against the confinement of women to traditionally feminine activities, while actually preferring those "feminine" activities myself. Again, it’s about choice. If, like me, you enjoy cooking and being in the kitchen, your gender shouldn’t determine whether or not you should engage in those activities. On the flip side, gender shouldn’t be used to force anyone in or out of the kitchen. </p>
<p>So let's keep celebrating the women who continue to practice and pass on kitchen culture – but let’s also work on increasing the respect shown to kitchen culture, and on expanding who gets to participate in it. Women shouldn’t be forced in and men shouldn’t be forced out, and perhaps most importantly, those of us who are feminists can’t shame women who want to be in the kitchen. By engaging in these practices, we'll bring gender equality not only outside of the domestic sphere, but inside as well.</p>
<p><em>This article is also published on </em><a href="http://www.freshinkforteens.com/"><em>Fresh Ink for Teens</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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Topics:
<a href="https://jwa.org/topics/schools" hreflang="en">Schools</a>, <a href="https://jwa.org/topics/food" hreflang="en">Food</a>, <a href="https://jwa.org/topics/synagoguestemples" hreflang="en">Synagogues/Temples</a>
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<mark class="hidden" data-comment-timestamp="1519833326"></mark><div class="submitted"><span class="username"><span lang="" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">Emma Mair</span></span>1 year ago</div>
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<div class="field field-name-comment-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Love this! </p>
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</section>Wed, 28 Feb 2018 06:41:12 +0000smuroff24425 at https://jwa.orgFrom Spy to Spatula to the Small Screenhttps://jwa.org/blog/risingvoices/from-spy-to-spatula-to-small-screen
<span>From Spy to Spatula to the Small Screen</span>
by <a href="https://jwa.org/blog/author/dorrit-corwin" hreflang="und">Dorrit Corwin</a><span><span lang="" about="https://jwa.org/users/smuroff" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">smuroff</span></span>
<span>Wed, 02/21/2018 - 03:20</span>
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden field-item"> <a href="https://jwa.org/media/dorrit-corwin-dressed-up-as-julia-child-for-school-presentation"><img src="https://jwa.org/themes/jwawesome/images/lazy.gif" width="300" height="199" alt="Dorrit Corwin Dressed Up as Julia Child for School Presentation" title="Dorrit Corwin Dressed Up as Julia Child for School Presentation" data-src="//d3q94h10rclvvz.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/scale_width_300px/public/mediaobjects/dorrit_2.jpg?itok=06Pkgs5C" class="b-lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /></a>
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<div class="field field-name-field-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>2017-2018 Rising Voices Fellow Dorrit Corwin dressed up as Julia Child for a third grade school presentation about famous role models.</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-section-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>When I was in third grade, I had to choose a famous role model to research and present to my class. Naturally, I chose <a href="https://www.biography.com/people/julia-child-9246767">Julia Child</a> – not because I was an aspiring chef or because I wanted an excuse to buy a red wig – but because I left the theater after seeing <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/julie_and_julia/">“Julie & Julia” (2009)</a> absolutely fascinated by her legacy; both inside the kitchen, and beyond its walls. A female public figure with a personality as strong as hers was rare during the 1950s, and her role as a volunteer spy during World War II taught me that no one is just one thing. Even though history often highlights people solely for what they were most famous for, it’s important to look beyond that and explore their multiplicity of talents and contributions to society.</p>
<p>I might not have known what feminism was at the time; however, my obsession with Julia Child was definitely influenced by her identity as a woman, and her passions for traditionally male interests: rich food and the military. On and off the small screen she was passionate, poised, and outspoken. Her mile-wide smile was as infectious to the world as were her meals and treats. As a shy third grader only beginning to develop my sense of self, I aspired to reach her level of self-confidence and comfort in speaking to large audiences about things she cared about.</p>
<p>During Child’s time, American women were (and still are) often discouraged from making the indulgent and complex recipes that Child is most-known for. At the time Child’s cooking show first launched in 1963, <a href="https://tavaana.org/en/content/1960s-70s-american-feminist-movement-breaking-down-barriers-women">women were expected to cook TV dinners for their families and maintain slim figures to adhere to societal beauty standards.</a> Child was the first woman to have her own television show; on it she introduced French cooking to American women as an art form to be learned, mastered, and enjoyed. Child not only expanded the horizons for female American chefs, but she also shattered a ceiling in the entertainment business. In more ways than one, Child broke the mold of what the women of her time were expected to both cook and look like. </p>
<p>She preached, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/8328-the-only-time-to-eat-diet-food-is-while-you-re">“The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook.”</a> Having her as a role model encouraged me to indulge in food as an art form, rather than having an insecure and unhealthy relationship with food, <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/mackenziekruvant/why-we-need-to-stop-talking-about-what-women-are-eating?utm_term=.umO8wo94#.xqEJYA31">which is sadly common for many women and girls.</a> She also taught me that it’s not only okay to fail, but that failure is important in order to succeed; after all, before achieving wide success, she failed her first exam at the prestigious culinary school <a href="https://www.cordonbleu.edu/home/en">Le Cordon Bleu</a>. After passing the exam on her second attempt, she later became the first woman to be inducted into the Culinary Institute of America’s Hall of Fame.</p>
<p>Child did clerical work for the Office of Strategic Services, a World War II-era spy agency, during the summer of 1942, and later worked directly for OSS Director William Donovan. When Child interviewed for a job at the agency, her interviewer described her like this: <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26186498/ns/us_news-security/t/julia-child-cooked-double-life-spy/#.WmRIcyPzm7o">"good impression, pleasant, alert, capable, very tall.”</a> She applied her diligent work-ethic to a completely foreign field of work that was comprised of mostly men. Child’s diverse resume teaches me not only that I can excel at more than one passion, but that no matter what career path I choose, it is imperative that I also work towards social justice.</p>
<p>At age ten I could spot a truffle cheese from a mile away, and had developed a rather sophisticated palette, thanks to my mom’s love for cooking, and to role models like Julia Child. Though that part of me will always be integral to my old soul, a lot has changed about me since I dressed up as Julia Child for my third grade class. Eight years after my biography presentation, I have grown into a young woman, who, like Child, has strong passions and specific goals in mind. I’m much more confident in myself and in my ability to speak up about issues and topics that matter to me, and to pursue a wide range of passions and projects. Multifaceted identities are everywhere – even in the kitchen – and thanks to Julia Child’s legacy, I’m not afraid to break the mold (pun intended!).</p>
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Topics:
<a href="https://jwa.org/topics/feminism" hreflang="en">Feminism</a>, <a href="https://jwa.org/topics/food" hreflang="en">Food</a>
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<div class="comments-count">2 Comments</div>
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<mark class="hidden" data-comment-timestamp="1519664151"></mark><div class="submitted"><span class="username"><span lang="" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">Emma Mair</span></span>1 year ago</div>
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<div class="field field-name-comment-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Great work, Dorrit! </p>
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<mark class="hidden" data-comment-timestamp="1519263680"></mark><div class="submitted"><span class="username"><span lang="" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">Toni Corwin</span></span>1 year ago</div>
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<div class="field field-name-comment-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>I think that you are destined to spend some of your passion time in the kitchen - your mom and your grandmoms all do - so you probably have it in your DNA - Great story - still remember the presentation in 3rd grade - I think I contributed the pearls. Let's see the movie again - Noni</p>
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</section>Wed, 21 Feb 2018 08:20:15 +0000smuroff24414 at https://jwa.orgDouble-Boundhttps://jwa.org/blog/risingvoices/double-bound
<span>Double-Bound</span>
by <a href="https://jwa.org/blog/author/sofia-gardenswartz" hreflang="und">Sofia Gardenswartz</a><span><span lang="" about="https://jwa.org/users/smuroff" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">smuroff</span></span>
<span>Mon, 02/12/2018 - 01:22</span>
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden field-item"> <a href="https://jwa.org/media/sofia-gardenswartz-in-serving-spoons-apron"><img src="https://jwa.org/themes/jwawesome/images/lazy.gif" width="300" height="252" alt="Sofia Gardenswartz in "Serving Spoons" Apron" title="Sofia Gardenswartz in "Serving Spoons" Apron" data-src="//d3q94h10rclvvz.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/scale_width_300px/public/mediaobjects/sofi_1.jpg?itok=LRXAY7TK" class="b-lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /></a>
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<div class="field field-name-field-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>2017-2018 Rising Voices Fellow Sofia Gardenswartz is the President of "Serving Spoons," a nonprofit organization that delivers healthy, home-cooked meals to families in need.</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-section-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>I am the President of a nonprofit, <a href="http://www.servingspoons.org/">Serving Spoons</a>, that prepares and delivers healthy, home-cooked meals to families in need. I accepted this leadership position nearly five years ago, and though I expected to encounter challenges due to my age, I felt confident I could convince the other industry professionals to take me seriously if I demonstrated maturity, responsibility, and commitment to my organization. Yet one of the greatest challenges, as I soon discovered, wasn’t my mere fourteen years, but rather my identity as a female.</p>
<p>I have many responsibilities as the President of Serving Spoons, including managing the budget, coordinating volunteers, and delivering meals to recipient families. I also have to raise money, as we are funded entirely by grants and donations. My capability to perform these tasks and successfully lead the organization have at times been questioned due to my gender.</p>
<p>This challenge is a quintessential representation of what feminist theory has dubbed the women’s “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2016/10/18/498309357/too-sweet-or-too-shrill-the-double-bind-for-women">double bind</a>,” the idea that women are held to two unachievable standards; they are expected to be personable and nice, as gender stereotypes dictate, but are also subject to the prejudices ingrained in our culture that equate “leader” with “masculine.” This is only exacerbated by the fact that Serving Spoons centers around food and cooking—an activity that is historically linked to sexist notions of women as homemakers. I’m thus continually regarded as either too assertive for my gender, or too meek for my position.</p>
<p>Looking at the food industry, it appears that my experience is a common one. You wouldn’t think that gender discrimination would be such a big issue in the kitchen—after all, women have long been told that’s where they “belong.” At first glance, it appears that women do well in this area, occupying <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/womens-databook/archive/women-in-the-labor-force-a-databook-2015.pdf">55% of food preparation and serving-related occupations</a>. But a closer examination of this data reveals that, despite this majority in the industry as a whole, women hold only 22% of the chef or head cook positions. What’s more, the pay gap in food service is the second-highest in the entire country, with women making <a href="https://research-content.glassdoor.com/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/03/Glassdoor-Gender-Pay-Gap-Study.pdf">28% less than men in the same position</a>. It appears that, even in jobs traditionally regarded as “women’s work,” women’s efforts are continually undervalued.</p>
<p>So where does that leave me? As I prepare to go to college next year, I’m confronted with a startling reality. Not only will I have to leave Serving Spoons behind, but my ability to get involved with another organization that combines my passions for food and service work may be limited by gender-bias. I love to cook, could even see myself working in a professional kitchen one day, but how likely is it that I would ever be an executive chef? And even if I was, would I be paid the same as my male counter-parts? It’s a depressing forecast, but one that I hope to change with my activism and that of my fellow feminist comrades. As I’m reminded every day when working with Serving Spoons, personal initiative can create great and lasting change. </p>
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Topics:
<a href="https://jwa.org/topics/food" hreflang="en">Food</a>, <a href="https://jwa.org/topics/volunteers" hreflang="en">Volunteers</a>
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<div class="comments-count">2 Comments</div>
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<mark class="hidden" data-comment-timestamp="1519192727"></mark><div class="submitted"><span class="username"><span lang="" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">Camp</span></span>1 year ago</div>
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<div class="field field-name-comment-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Inspiring!! Making a difference one meal at a time! </p>
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<mark class="hidden" data-comment-timestamp="1518529116"></mark><div class="submitted"><span class="username"><span lang="" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">Emma Mair</span></span>1 year ago</div>
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<div class="field field-name-comment-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Yes queen! </p>
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</section>Mon, 12 Feb 2018 06:22:42 +0000smuroff24393 at https://jwa.orgNot So Jewish American Mothershttps://jwa.org/blog/risingvoices/not-so-jewish-american-mothers
<span>Not So Jewish American Mothers</span>
by <a href="https://jwa.org/blog/author/kara-sherman" hreflang="und">Kara Sherman</a><span><span lang="" about="https://jwa.org/users/smuroff" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">smuroff</span></span>
<span>Wed, 02/07/2018 - 01:03</span>
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden field-item"> <a href="https://jwa.org/media/kara-sherman-with-her-mom"><img src="https://jwa.org/themes/jwawesome/images/lazy.gif" width="300" height="252" alt="Kara Sherman with her Mom" title="Kara Sherman with her Mom" data-src="//d3q94h10rclvvz.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/scale_width_300px/public/mediaobjects/kara_0.jpg?itok=faKoGjq2" class="b-lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /></a>
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<div class="field field-name-field-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>2017-2018 Rising Voices Fellow Kara Sherman with her mom, Dana. Photo taken by Kara Sherman.</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-section-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Loud. Abrasive. Bossy. Great cook. These attributes all contribute to the popular caricature of the “Jewish American Mother.” I know plenty of women who fit this description. I’ve taught their kids on Sunday mornings. I love some of them. I can’t stand some of them. My mother is Jewish, and American, and pretty bossy when she needs to be; but she’s never conformed to this stereotype.</span></p>
<p><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">While matzah ball soup and potato pancakes <a href="https://firstwefeast.com/eat/2016/01/history-of-jewish-deli"><span>have become deli staples across America</span></a>, no one can beat an authentic, homemade, kosher-style meal. I grew up on my paternal grandmother’s brisket and latkes, but those kinds of foods were always holiday treats I never expected to have at home. My mother has always hated cooking. She’s worked all my life, has a PhD from Duke University, and doesn’t have the energy to waste on activities she doesn’t enjoy. Sure, I’ve never gone hungry—she comes home every evening and makes a meal for my sister, my father, and me—but I’ve always been able to tell that she doesn’t enjoy it. She needs to feed her family, and then she needs to go to sleep. My family views food as fuel, not as something to be savored and enjoyed, largely because of my mother’s attitude toward cooking.</span></p>
<p><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">This being said, my mother is still Jewish—and she’s still a damn good mom. She’s never been one for practicing her religion, but she chants the Shabbat candle blessings with me when I ask her to. Her mother was Jewish, her father is Jewish, and without really meaning to, she raised a Jewish family. But she doesn’t like to cook.</span></p>
<p><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">In my mom’s words, the stereotypical “Jewish American Mother” is “a woman who tries to guilt everybody into eating everything, and for some unknown reason that no one can explain, she’s always worried that no one has enough to eat.” My mom’s early childhood consisted mostly of frozen TV dinners microwaved by her single mother of three, who’s teaching job mandated long hours. Her grandparents would bring Bronx-style Jewish food when they would visit—rugelach, gefilte fish, and pickled herring being among these delicacies. These traditional <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ashkenazim"><span>Ashkenazi</span></a> meals were infrequent but enjoyed, and contributed to what little Jewish identity my mom held as a young girl (lox and bagels is still her all-time favorite meal). But she grew up in the suburbs of West Chester, Pennsylvania (not New York City), and her immediate maternal influence didn’t conform to any traditional stereotypes. To my mom, Judaism meant (and still means) valuing education and pursuing excellence, not eating and fretting about others eating.</span></p>
<p><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">“I didn’t think much about being a Jewish mother when I had you,” she told me. “I just cared about being a good mother in the general sense.” And although undoubtedly sexist and unfair, to her, the role of motherhood carries with it societal pressures to do the household cooking and feeding, even if she doesn’t want to: “To be a good mother was to make sure my kids got fed and cared for,” my mom told me. “But I could feel an implication from other Jewish mothers that I didn’t do enough worrying, that I was a sub-par Jewish mother.”</span></p>
<p><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Stereotypes, while they may come from a history of recognizable trends, are inherently harmful. Jokes about Jewish mothers are often relatable and hilarious, but let’s face it—it’s low-hanging fruit, just like jokes about craftily saving money, and the number of Rachels we all went to summer camp with. Seemingly harmless stereotypes commonly referenced within cultural communities, like the “Jewish American Mother,” can often be exclusionary, and erase the experiences of those who don’t fit the mold. Not all moms have the time or the desire to slave away in the kitchen, and there’s nothing wrong with that.</span></p>
<p><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Mothers should be able to choose to spend their time in any way they wish—empowerment comes from choice, including the choice to make more traditional choices. But when these choices are taken away because of someone’s gender, and anything straying from traditional choices is deemed wrong, that’s a problem. There is no perfect maternal idol that should serve as the example to all mothers. Women should always have the right to make their own decisions, free from the confines of stereotypes, like these deeply ingrained Jewish ones. My mother has taught me to make my own decisions, just as she has made hers. I’m grateful to have been raised by such an independent, badass woman (and I’m grateful for her Sunday night salmon, too).</span></p>
<p><em>This article was re-published on <a href="https://www.lilith.org/blog/">The Lilith Blog</a>.</em></p>
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Topics:
<a href="https://jwa.org/topics/mothers" hreflang="en">Motherhood</a>, <a href="https://jwa.org/topics/food" hreflang="en">Food</a>
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<div class="comments-count">3 Comments</div>
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<mark class="hidden" data-comment-timestamp="1518066032"></mark><div class="submitted"><span class="username"><span lang="" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">Lisa Kahn</span></span>1 year ago</div>
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<div class="field field-name-comment-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>What a great read! So much wisdom and heart...it just goes to show that so much of what we feed our families is not simply food to fuel our bodies; it is food for our souls. And whatever our backgrounds may be, this article merits healthy conversation around any dinner table! </p>
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<mark class="hidden" data-comment-timestamp="1518051116"></mark><div class="submitted"><span class="username"><span lang="" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">Cameron</span></span>1 year ago</div>
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<div class="field field-name-comment-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>So awesome and empowering! </p>
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<mark class="hidden" data-comment-timestamp="1518021943"></mark><div class="submitted"><span class="username"><span lang="" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">Emma</span></span>1 year ago</div>
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<div class="field field-name-comment-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>LOVE LOVE LOVE </p>
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</section>Wed, 07 Feb 2018 06:03:37 +0000smuroff24380 at https://jwa.orgA Conversation with Food Writer Lisa Yelseyhttps://jwa.org/blog/interview-with-food-writer-lisa-yelsey
<span>A Conversation with Food Writer Lisa Yelsey</span>
by <a href="https://jwa.org/blog/author/bella-book" hreflang="und">Bella Book</a><span><span lang="" about="https://jwa.org/users/rking" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">rking</span></span>
<span>Wed, 08/09/2017 - 10:29</span>
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<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden field-item"> <a href="https://jwa.org/media/lisa-yelsey-author-photo"><img src="https://jwa.org/themes/jwawesome/images/lazy.gif" width="300" height="292" alt="Lisa Yelsey, Author Photo " title="Lisa Yelsey, Author Photo " data-src="//d3q94h10rclvvz.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/scale_width_300px/public/mediaobjects/lisa_y_author_photo_.png?itok=39xFrQ_R" class="b-lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /></a>
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<div class="field field-name-field-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Lisa Yelsey, Author Photo, 2016.</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-section-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>JWA’s food writer, Lisa Yelsey, has been cooking and writing for <em>Jewish Women, Amplified</em> for almost a year! In celebration of her delicious recipes, her dog, Cassie (aka the cutest German Shepherd to be featured in <a href="https://jwa.org/blog/pomegranate-glazed-roasted-vegetables">an article about roasted vegetables</a>), and teaching us how to bake and watch TV (the key is autoplay), I asked Lisa about how she got her start in food writing, how to update a traditional recipe for modern palates, and what she does when a recipe isn’t turning out quite right.</p>
<p><strong>You sort of “fell into” food writing in college. When did your interest in food writing first take shape? What draws you to this form of storytelling?</strong></p>
<p>In college I was doing a ton of cooking for Hillel, which I enjoyed but kvetched about constantly, as is the way of our people. I went to Swarthmore, a tiny school where we had a small, grody Kosher kitchen in a basement. My sophomore year, I went through a weird phase of reading a ton of vegan websites (I’m vegetarian, never vegan) and offered to cook for many Shabbat dinners.</p>
<p>A friend was on the school’s online paper and asked if I wanted to write a baking column. Even though I’d never done anything like it before, I basically sat down to write up a cookie recipe I’d recently made, and an hour later had written 1,000 words and thought “oh, I love this?”</p>
<p>I like food writing because a) I love talking about myself, b) it pushes me to take my baking to a higher level, and c) writing about a specific experience gives me the much-needed purpose and structure to create a cohesive piece of writing.</p>
<p>It helps to have something really concrete to research and figure out how to write about. I tend to become pretty consumed by whatever I’m developing and researching, and have a million tabs and spreadsheets open on my computer. A little while ago I mentioned cake pops and a friend said “Oh yeah, I remember the month where that was a significant amount of your whole personality.”</p>
<p><strong>We love your updates on traditional recipes, like your <a href="https://jwa.org/blog/apple-pound-cake-with-honey-whipped-cream">apple cake</a> and the <a href="https://jwa.org/blog/eating-jewish-pumpkin-spice-rugelach">pumpkin spice rugelach</a>. What is your planning process when it comes to updating traditional recipes? Do you have any people you make sure to consult?</strong></p>
<p>Thank you! That’s one of my favorite things to do. Typically I’ll have a seasonal or holiday-specific flavor or food in mind, and a vehicle (bread, donut, etc) I want to work with. When updating a traditional Jewish holiday recipe, I try to figure out what makes it significant for the holiday (round challah for Rosh Hashanah, dairy for Shavuot, etc) so I am keeping the spirit of the tradition.</p>
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<a href="https://jwa.org/media/pre-baked-challah-multiple-types-of-braids"><img class="b-lazy" src="https://jwa.org/themes/jwawesome/images/lazy.gif" data-src="//d3q94h10rclvvz.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/scale_width_300px/public/mediaobjects/dsc_1115.jpg?itok=yCY-kbhB" typeof="foaf:Image" /></a>
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<div class="field field-name-field-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Pre-baked challah with multiple types of braids. Image courtesy of Lisa Yelsey.</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-section-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>When making any decision in my life, I consult every single person I know, so yes, I always have people I consult. I mostly talk to my family and every friend I am messaging with at the time. If the responses are more “I guess that could be good?” than “ehh,” then I go for it. If I can’t defend a baking idea or update on a traditional food, I either rethink it or don’t do it.</p>
<p><strong>How does food, and food writing, connect you to your heritage?</strong></p>
<p>I think a lot of my stronger childhood memories of food are connected to Judaism, largely because of large family gatherings. My mother has always made amazing kugel, latkes, matzoh ball soup, etc. One of the first things I ever cooked was latkes with my mom, and it’s is still something we try to do together every year.</p>
<p>I don’t know if I even would have ever gotten into food and baking without Judaism. After cooking for my college Hillel, it really snowballed, but it means that most of my formative cooking memories are for Jewish holidays at home or in the kosher kitchen with my friends in college. It definitely reminds me of the long tradition of Jewish holidays and food bringing people together. For me, food writing is really the main intersection of my dual interests: running my own business and staying home and baking all the time.</p>
<p><strong>This spring, <a href="https://jwa.org/blog/joan-nathan-on-food-travel-and-tradition">you spoke with Joan Nathan about her book <em>King Solomon’s Table</em></a>. What was that experience like?</strong></p>
<p>The whole experience was wonderful! I am a huge fan of Joan Nathan, and my mother and grandmother both have a number of her cookbooks. A lot of my love for Jewish cooking comes from the intergenerational conversation, so this felt really special.</p>
<p>Joan was so generous with her time and answers during the whole interview. She was very willing to dive into family history and detailed explanations of her recipes and the extensive research she does for each recipe and book. Although transcribing the interview was a horrible experience in listening to myself say “um” a hundred times, I feel so grateful for the opportunity.</p>
<p><strong>You always include a recommendation for a show to watch while making your recipes. What are the best shows to cook to?</strong></p>
<p>I try to avoid anything with a ton of complexity while I’m cooking since I’m often only half paying attention. Rewatching a show, or watching a show you enjoy but don’t need to catch every minute detail of, can be the best option.</p>
<p>Also anything on a streaming service that autoplays each next episode so you don’t have to stop baking to wash your hands/touch your tv or computer/wash your hands again is great.</p>
<p>My recommendations are probably Brooklyn 99, Jane the Virgin, Great British Bake Off, One Day at a Time (Netflix remake), or Bob’s Burgers.</p>
<p><strong>How do you stay motivated when a recipe isn’t working out?</strong></p>
<p>While I’d love to claim this never happens, occasionally something just won’t work out and I’ll need to regroup a little bit. Before starting any recipe, I try to do a lot of groundwork, research, and planning to give myself the best chance for success. Because of that, it can be startling and frustrating when an idea doesn’t pan out.</p>
<p>Staying motivated is just remembering the earlier research and preparation around the recipe. If I’m excited to make babka, and it doesn’t turn out, I still have that desire to make a good babka. I want to live up to my own earlier expectations of myself and what I’m capable of, even if I have a minor setback.</p>
<p>Honestly, it also helps that I’m making some of these recipes for publication. I have to get them perfect in order to publish in good conscience!</p>
<p><strong>We love your dog! Can you tell us more about her? How did she become a character in your recipes?</strong></p>
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<a href="https://jwa.org/media/lisas-dog"><img class="b-lazy" src="https://jwa.org/themes/jwawesome/images/lazy.gif" data-src="//d3q94h10rclvvz.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/scale_width_300px/public/mediaobjects/lisas_dog_.png?itok=VGfV7c0J" typeof="foaf:Image" /></a>
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<div class="field field-name-field-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>Photo of Lisa's dog, Queen of all she surveys</p>
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<div class="field field-name-field-section-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-item"><p>THANK YOU! Cassie is a good dog, probably the best dog. She’s a nine-year-old German Shepard but her doggie day care once said she has a “puppy-like personality,” which is true. She became a character in my recipes because she loves to be in my way when I’m cooking. Her favorite move is, if I am standing at the counter, to take a squeaky toy and squeak it against the back of my legs over and over again until I pay attention to her. She makes her presence known! She is also VERY interested in anything using butter or cream cheese, even though she’s not allowed to have either.</p>
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Topics:
<a href="https://jwa.org/topics/food" hreflang="en">Food</a>, <a href="https://jwa.org/topics/food-writing" hreflang="en">Food Writing</a>
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</section>Wed, 09 Aug 2017 14:29:18 +0000rking23708 at https://jwa.org